In accordance with article 67 of the Constitution of the
Republic of Cyprus, the House of Representatives unanimously voted
for its dissolution on 18/4/96. Under this article, the House may
dissolve itself only by its own decision carried by an absolute
majority.

Any such decision must determine the date of the general
elections, which must not be less than 30 days and not more than 40
days from the date of the decision. The first meeting of the new
House must not be later than 15 days after the general elections.

The Electoral System

In June 1995 the House of Representatives amended the
Electoral Law which provided for reiforced representation system,
The system was replaced by proportional representation.

First Distribution

Cyprus is divided into six constituencies. The first
distribution of seats takes place by constituency. Seats are
allocated to parties which have managed to obtain the minimum
number of valid votes necessary in a constituency (electoral
threshold). To determine this threshold the number of valid votes
is divided by the number of seats of each constituency.

Each party will win as many seats as the number of times the
electoral threshold will go into the total number of votes it has
received.

Example: Nicosia - 21 seats - total valid votes 126.000

Party A receives 45,000 votes.
To find the electoral threshold:

valid votes 126,000
------- = 6,000 electoral threshold
seats 21

To decide how many seats Party A receives:

Valid votes 45,000
Party A has received --------=7 seats + 3,000 votes to be

used in the 2nd
Electoral threshold 6,000 distribution to
benefit of the
same party.

Second distrubution

Parties win a seat in the second distribution if they have
received 1/56 or approx. 1.8% of the votes islandwide. A coalition
of parties needs to secure 10% of the votes.

Independent candidates are not allowed, under the law to
participate in the second distribution.

For the second distribution of seats the Republic is
considered as one constituency.

In order to determine the number of seats to be assigned to
parties in the second distribution, the total number of unused
votes (remainders) of all parties participating in the second
distribution, are added up.

(The unused votes of the parties which are not entitled to
participate in the second distribution as well as the unused votes
of the independent candidates,are not taken into account).

The total number of unused votes is then divided by the number
of seats not unallocated in the first distribution. The quotient
will represent the electoral threshold for the second
distribution. The total number of unused votes throughout the
island of each party or coalition of parties taking part in the
second distribution, is summed up and divided by the electoral
theshold. The quotient indicates the number of seats each party or
coalition will win in the second distribution.

Seats are distributed as follows:

The Parties are graded according to the number of unused votes
remaining from the first distribution. This grading will determine
the order in which the parties will be allocated the seats in the
second distribution.

Each seat is allocated to the party or coalition in the
constituency in which it has the highest number of unused votes and
provided seats are available.

If there are not available seats in the constituency in which
the party or coalition has the highest number of unused votes, that
party will win a seat in the constituency in which it has the
second highest number of unused votes.

This is repeated with the other parties taking part in the
second distribution. The entire procedure is repeated, with the
same order until all seats are allocated.

The seats in each constituency are won by those candidates who
have received the highest number of preference votes.If candidates
have an equal number of preference votes, the seat is assigned
according to the order they appear on the ballot.

Number of seats/constituencies

According to article 62(1) of the Constitution the number of
representatives is 50. Out of this number 35 are elected by the
Greek Cypriot Community and 15 by the Turkish Cypriot Community.
The Turkish Cypriot seats remain vacant since 1964 when the
Turkish Cypriot representatives withdrew from the House.

However, for the smooth running of the House of Representatives
and of the Committees in particular, the House decided in July 1985
by adopting law 124, to increase the seats to 80. Of these 56
(70%) representatives are elected by the Greek Cypriot Community
and 24 (30%) by the Turkish Cypriot Community, as provided in
article 62(2) of the Constitution.

Under the electoral law the Cyprus Republic is divided into six
constituencies. The distribution of parliamentary seats and the
votes of preference for each constituency as decided by the House,
is as follows: